Case Study:
Ventura County,
California

Early in 2008, Ventura
County Health's
emergency preparedness
specialist Steve
Johnston approached Information Station Specialists
with a set of needs that
ultimately led to the
birth of a new means of
reaching the public with
health and safety
information during a
crisis. The RadioSTAT
Portable Emergency
Advisory Radio Station
was designed through
this public/private
collaboration to be used
in conjunction with
portable road signs that
instruct motorists to
tune to a special AM
radio frequency for
critical information at
PODs, incidents,
disasters, evacuations
and events. Later that
year, Information Station Specialists assisted
Johnston in debuting
this new capability at
'Operation Sunrise,' a
special training event
the County hosts for
volunteer Citizen
Emergency Response Teams
(CERTs), first
responders and other
emergency professionals
to help hone their
skills.
See Ventura County Case
Study 1.

Skip ahead to 2011 and
the just-completed
'Operation Medical
Shelter' event. Information Station Specialists and
County health/safety
officials again teamed
to debut an innovative
technology: this time
VoiceStar - a
communication solution
that includes the visual
component as well as the
aural.

VoiceStar Portable
Advisory Radio Systems,
manufactured by our partner
American Signal Company,
are composed of towable,
all-weather trailers
with information radio
stations onboard. The
versions displayed at
the event included
6-by-11-foot changeable
message signs to alert
incoming traffic to the
special radio signal.
(Both the radio messages
and sign text may be
programmed remotely as
well as in the field at
the units themselves.)
See more on VoiceStar
here.

Two VoiceStar systems
were utilized during
'Operation Medical
Shelter' – one on the
approach road and one
positioned near parking
areas. Broadcast
messages informed
participants about
directions, parking,
hours of operation and
schedule of events
during the exercise. In
an actual emergency, FCC
rules give government
officials wide latitude
in how they may use
information broadcast
stations to protect the
public. The Ventura
County Sheriff's Office
recently procured the
two VoiceStar units,
which were in operation
during the event.

Johnston describes the
stations' purpose this
way, "The RadioSTAT (and
now VoiceStar) Portable
Emergency Advisory Radio
Stations are constantly
being utilized by a
variety of county
agencies for a variety
of missions. While its
utility in disaster
response is
self-evident, it
provides a valuable
component to exercises,
vaccine clinics and
whenever we need to
communicate information
to a continuous stream
of community members.
Our Auxiliary
Communications
Volunteers have created
a process to create
messaging and respond
whenever the equipment
is activated."

(VoiceStar systems are
in use nationally,
obtained recently by
Pierce, King and
Snohomish Counties (WA),
Washoe County (NV), the
Veterans Administration,
the US Army Corps of
Engineers and various
State Departments of
Transportation.)